How much time at sea would they have to endure before reaching the Lightning Country?

Maito Gai, elite jounin of Konoha, was not feeling very well. Many days at sea had still not acclimated him to the boat's rocking and dipping, and tonight he was doing his best to keep watch while leaning his head over the deck's railing at the same time.

"Gai-san," Aoba called from behind him. "You should go on to bed. We'll be fine out here without you."

"No!" Gai lifted his head to demonstrate that he was perfectly fine, but a wave of nausea swept over him and he quickly had to lean back over the railing again.

Yamato sighed. "I've never seen anyone stay seasick for so long."

"I'm keeping a watch out on the water," Gai hacked out, staring intensely out into the night. "If we come under attack, I'll be the first to know."

"Not if they attack the other side," Aoba pointed out. "Tsugi-san would sense someone coming long before we could see them."

"Someone could fool my sensing abilities," Tsugi said modestly. "But if they went through the trouble of doing that, they'd probably hide their appearance as well."

Aoba nodded. "Right. So, Gai-san, you really don't have to force yourself—"

"Wait!" Tsugi suddenly turned to stare out over the water. "I can sense someone. There are two people approaching rapidly."

"You have a bad sense of humor, Tsugi-san," Gai sulked. "I didn't know you were the kind of man to make fun of your comrades."

"No, I really do! They're getting closer. I am sure they're headed for us!" Tsugi's eyes widened in alarm. "One of them—one of them is extremely powerful! At least Kage level!"

"What?" Yamato yelped.

They didn't have any more time to discuss it, because two figures leapt into the boat right after Yamato spoke. Gai gave a spirited battle cry and went at them with a Severe Leaf Hurricane, only he couldn't quite put enough energy into it and ended up flat on the deck after a sharp heel to the face.

"Calm down, Gai!" Tsunade said, putting her foot down gracefully after the kick. Shizune was standing beside her.

"Tsunade-sama?" Yamato exclaimed.

Tsunade held a finger up to her lips. "Shh. I assume Naruto is sleeping right now?"

"Yes, but..." Aoba said, bewildered, "What is going on?"

"I don't want to wake him. He might get suspicious if he knows that I came here personally. Shizune and I are on our way to a meeting in Kumogakure to discuss preparations for the war. Have you received the message we sent about Naruto?"

Yamato shook his head as if to pull himself together. "No. But we recently went through a dangerous passage that has been known to throw off messenger birds' sense of direction. It could have gone astray."

Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a look.

"Is there something going on with my rival's young pupil?" Gai said, getting up from the deck in a wobbly kind of way.

"We assumed you'd send word if he disappeared." Shizune stepped forward. "But have you noticed anything different or strange about him? Anything that might suggest he's been replaced with an imposter?"

"An imposter?" Gai shouted, and everyone shushed him.

"I don't believe so," Yamato said. "I planted several tracking seeds on him so he couldn't get away—I mean, so we could always be sure where he was. They're undetectable to anyone but me, so I don't see how any imposters would know about them."

"There really are two of them, then," Shizune said worriedly to Tsunade.

"Hm..."

"Tsunade-sama, if you could explain...?" Aoba said.

"Alright." Tsunade motioned them closer. Everyone huddled in and she recounted everything that happened in a low voice.

"It seems most likely that Yakushi Kabuto is the one behind it," she concluded quietly. "We lost track of his movements shortly before all this started. Frankly, he could be anywhere by now."

"This is… what are we going to do?" Yamato shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm on the way to a meeting of the Five Kage," Tsunade said. "We'll have to figure out where to hide him. The other Kage are not going to like this either, but I don't think anyone will be surprised the enemy is capable of doing this."

"I just hope they don't do it again," Tsugi said. "Do you think he has the ability to control the people he summons, like the Edo Tensei?"

"The Edo Tensei required a tag to be planted in the victim's head to control them," Tsunade said. "I can't deny it's a possibility for this technique as well, but with Naruto at least, everything seems fine. Well, almost everything." She looked at Yamato. "I tested his chakra and it had traces of Mokuton in it. I'm not sure why."

"If it's Kabuto, there are any number of reasons," Yamato said grimly.

Tsunade crossed her arms. "At any rate, keep an eye on Naruto and make sure there are no changes. But be careful not to let on something is wrong. He might notice something no matter what we do. I'm not sure what kind of connection, if any, the two versions of him have. But it'll be hard enough to keep him on the island even without all these other things."

"We'll do our best, Tsunade-sama," Gai promised with feeling.

"I need to see him before we leave. I'd like to take a blood sample back for comparison."

Aoba followed after Tsunade with a lamp, and they descended into the dark interior of the boat.

Naruto's door creaked slightly as they opened it, and Aoba held up the lamp to let light in the room.

He was there snoring peacefully, back turned toward the door. Tsunade walked up to him quietly with a fond smile. Even while fast asleep, he suddenly seemed much bigger and grown up than Tsunade was used to. He had kicked off most of the covers and his mouth was open, giving him a dopey look that was very endearing in the eyes of an adoptive grandmother.

I really hope this doesn't end badly, for either of you.

Tsunade lay her hand on his head as if to ruffle his hair, but she was actually monitoring the flow of chakra in his brain so he wouldn't wake up. With a mental apology, she filled a capsule with blood from his arm and left the room undetected.

Tobi materialized in a dark, damp underground cavern. After spending so much time around Kabuto, he started to chafe his hideout's resemblance to the gloomy spaces Orochimaru always loved. At least he didn't have snakes built in to every pillar and torch here.

Speaking of…

Tobi sat down in a stone chair with an air of weary irritation. The space in front of him swirled, and Kabuto came into view, hunched within his hood. Zetsu's face appeared through one of the walls, molding and shifting until it became recognizable.

"Alright. What is this 'new arrangement' you were talking about earlier?" Tobi asked, half-regretting the question already.

Kabuto gave a laugh that started low, but became long and unsettling. As he did, his voice changed. It shifted from something high-pitched and slightly hysterical into a deep raspy chuckle that was immediately recognizable when it settled.

"What I mean is there has been a change," he said, except he wasn't speaking with Kabuto's voice anymore.

There was a pause.

Tobi straightened up in his chair. "You are Orochimaru."

"Very good!" Orochimaru looked up. He was no longer wearing Kabuto's face. He took off Kabuto's glasses and slipped them into his pocket.

Tobi closed his fists. "Explain. How are you still alive?"

"It's really very simple. I finally succeeded in taking over, just as Kabuto feared I would. Of course, I'm not quite at full power yet. There's something else I need before I can be fully revived."

"If you plan on getting in my way—"

"No. We can still work together, if you want to. You can have Edo Tensei soldiers for your war." Orochimaru lifted his palms in a shrug, the ever-present smirk plastered on his face. "To be honest, I'm just tired of Kabuto's shameless imitation of me. It's no fun watching from the sidelines when what's in front of me is boring. If that's how it's going to be, I might as well act in the world myself. That's why I took measures to influence him in certain ways."

"You mean all this with the Kyuubi?" Tobi demanded. "You can't expect me to ignore that. And if you really want to help, why did you revive former Akatsuki members to steal it?"

"Oh, that wasn't me." Orochimaru hissed slightly on the last syllable. "Up until now, I didn't have full control. It was necessary to revive Nagato in order to perform the technique, but Kabuto was more concerned with breaking away from you. When your associate," Orochimaru nodded at Zetsu, "tried to interrupt the Time-Spanning Incarnation, of course Kabuto used your revived Akatsuki to fight back. If you all had worked together from the start, we wouldn't have lost track of Naruto-kun."

"Then where are they now? Nagato and Itachi?"

"I do not know. Unfortunately, I have no control over them. I can't undo their Reincarnation, either. Only the one who summoned them can do that, and I have no intention of giving this body back for such a pointless reason."

"Zetsu, go back to Orochimaru's hideout. See if they are there," Tobi said.

"That sounds like a convenient excuse. He's probably lying," Black Zetsu warned.

"Just go."

Zetsu sunk into the wall.

Tobi glanced back at Orochimaru. "Edo Tensei aside, what do you want with the Kyuubi? Do you plan on keeping him away from us, too?"

"Yes. I hope that doesn't prevent us from working together."

"Stop messing around!" Tobi stood from his chair, immediately furious. "If this… replica really has the Kyuubi, why would I ignore that, when taking it would make my goal that much easier to accomplish?"

"You can chase after the Kyuubi all you want. I don't care what you do with the one from this time. But I'm afraid I can't let you interrupt my project. There are some aspects of it I want to refine. But what really interests me is the unrealized potential of what I've brought here—not just the potential he already had, but the malleability of the form I made to contain him."

"I don't care about your stupid experiments—"

"You cannot extract his bijuu, not even with the Gedo Statue." Orochimaru raised a hand and pointed at Tobi ominously. "We have made sure of that. I doubt even the real Uchiha Madara could reach the bijuu's chakra inside him, because Senju Hashirama's power is holding it back. He will be able to draw on that power himself, with some effort. But if an external force attempts to extract it against his will, the Kyuubi's chakra will immediately be absorbed by Hashirama's cells, and poor Naruto-kun will probably turn into a very large tree."

"What have you done?" Tobi seethed. "That is why you stole one of the Zetsu, isn't it? You altered it and used it as a vessel for the summoning. You specifically set everything up to get in my way, yet you say you're on my side? Why don't I just kill you now, so you don't have the chance to get in my way again?"

"Now, now, no need for all that," Orochimaru chuckled. "Killing me won't change the facts. I haven't done anything to you, Tobi-san. You're back where you were all along. Is that so bad?"

"If you don't intend to use the Kyuubi, then what's the point?"

"I'm interested to see where his path goes," Orochimaru said lightly. "I have been developing this jutsu for a long time, but I've never tested it. There's no doubt it needs refining. I also wonder, how does it compare to the Edo Tensei, or other mind-body transfer techniques? Unlike the dead, a living soul has the capacity to grow and change. And yet, by controlling the circumstances, you can essentially make it into a new existence. What are the capacities of this new existence? That is what interests me."

"Really," Tobi said dryly. "And where does helping me come into it?"

"A deal is a deal. Kabuto agreed to help you, so I will too. I can't do much with my own project until I get my full power back. In the meantime, you will not be able to reach him easily, and you can't send him back even if you wanted, so you have no reason to concern yourself with him."

"And how would you do that? Send him back."

Orochimaru considered that question for a while. "Like the Edo Tensei, you can have the original summoner reverse it. Unlike Edo Tensei, killing them would also work. But as I've said, it wasn't me."

Tobi stared at Orochimaru for a long time, trying to gauge his truthfulness. Looking at the snake's smile, it was next to impossible.

"As a sign of goodwill," Orochimaru continued, "I will help you when the war begins, and even help you get the Kyuubi and Hachibi. Until then, I must focus on regaining my power."

After their discussion, Orochimaru left. Tobi let him go, despite his frustration.

"Did you find anything?" he asked when half of Zetsu finally reappeared.

"Nothing," Black Zetsu said. "No sign of Nagato or Itachi. My other half is still trying to trace them, but they've either run off or gotten called back to the afterlife."

"No. They're still around. Even if Orochimaru is lying about losing control over the Edo Tensei, I believe he wasn't the one who did the actual Summoning. But he said we won't be able to reach the Kyuubi regardless."

"How arrogant," Black Zetsu said. "If he's really so weak now, we have no reason to listen to what he says."

Tobi shook his head. "Weak or not, he set the plot up indirectly, making it almost impossible to unravel by force."

"True or not, we can attempt the extraction anyway. It's no loss to us if it doesn't work."

"Yes. We may be able to find a use for the younger one, anyway. He could be a weak point against the Allied Shinobi Force. He makes them vulnerable, and they probably realize that by now. They're probably handling him like he's made of glass."

"So then?"

Tobi smiled behind his mask and walked out of the room, Zetsu following behind. He walked down a dark flight of stairs.

He opened a wooden door that creaked softly. This room was only a little brighter than the stairwell, unlit save for the glowing green light that came from dozens of tanks lining the walls. Each tank contained a floating, disembodied eye.

A boy sat on a raised platform, not facing them, not looking at anything. He couldn't see.

"How much longer do I have to stay like this?" Sasuke said.

"A while yet. How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine. I'll be even better once I can leave here." A smile almost as unsettling as Orochimaru's spread below the bandages covering half his face. "I have a promise to keep, after all."

Tsunade returned from the Five Kage meeting the next morning. She gave Sai a checkup and said he would be ready to leave the hospital very soon.

"Okay then," Naruto said, so impatient he was practically bouncing. "So what about me? I get to leave soon too, right? What did you guys decide at the meeting?"

"I want to know too, Tsunade-sama," Sai added cheerfully, and Sakura nodded.

"Right," Tsuade said, handing Sai's chart to a nurse, who excused herself with it. "After the meeting of the five Kage, it has been decided that you will be placed under the direct protection of the Kazekage."

"The Kazekage?" Naruto said nervously. He crossed his arms and tried hard to remember what he knew about the man.

"You will be perfectly safe with him," Tsunade said with a smile. "The Kazekage is a bit of a mother hen when it comes to you, Naruto."

Naruto imagined a faceless person in a Kazekage hat sitting on him, before he realized that he did know the foreign Kage—sort of.

"Wait," he said slowly. "Um, isn't he Gaara's father? You know, the one that tried to have his son assassinated multiple times?"

"No, that one died just before the Chuunin Exams, when Orochimaru stole his identity to manipulate Suna. It's someone else now."

"Don't worry, you'll like him," Sakura said brightly.

"Your team will set out as soon as Sai has recovered enough," Tsunade said. "A small group is faster and less noticeable. I need Kakashi to stay here, so I will be sending another jounin in his place—Hyuuga Neji."

"What—he's a jounin? He didn't tell me that!" Naruto broke in.

Tsunade didn't humor this outburst. "I'm sending him because aside from Kakashi, he's the jounin you know the best in Konoha, and that you'll be the most comfortable working with. His Byakugan should also be helpful for making sure you aren't being followed. I'm trying to keep you with people you're familiar with in your time. Except for Sai—"

"No, it's cool," Naruto interrupted again. "Me and Sai are friends now. Well, he says he doesn't know, but he's willing to go along with what I say, and I say we're friends."

"That was faster than last time." Tsunade raised a brow at Sai and Sakura.

"Meh." Sakura waved a hand. "That's just because we had to break Sai in before he was nice to be around."

"Sure, Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "From what I heard about how you acted back then, 'break' would be the right word."

"Hey!" Sakura said, reddening slightly. "You were incredibly rude, too. All of us were."

"Not Yamato-taichou," Sai offered. "He treated us to a stay at the onsen, and even saved Naruto from your violence."

"How so?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"I decline to answer that on the grounds it might spur you to violence against the Naruto with us."

"Wait, what?" Naruto gulped.

"Ahem," Tsunade coughed. "As I was saying, your team will meet the delegation from Suna at the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers. From that point on, the Kazekage will be your guard at all times when you're not in Sunagakure. When and where you go will mostly be up to him. Cheer up, though. You should feel honored. Usually you'd have to have the status of a daimyo to have the privilege of a Kage as your personal guard." She sounded amused.

"But then, why can't you just be my guard?" Naruto wrinkled his nose.

"I told you. You need a place that's actually defensible. Suna is heavily fortified and difficult to approach without being seen—they have taken great lengths to improve their own security lately. Besides, the Kazekage is better than I am at fighting while protecting others at the same time."

"If you say so," Naruto muttered. "Man, this sucks."

"Be ready to leave as soon as Sai recovers his strength," Tsunade ordered.

"I think I will be ready to travel by tomorrow," Sai said. "I could fight by the day after."

Tsunade nodded. "Normally I would advise against pushing yourself, but it's best if we get this done soon as possible. Sakura will be with you, too. You should be back up to speed by the time you cross the border of the Fire Country. Any objections?"

"No, ma'am," Sai and Sakura said, but Naruto just muttered into the hand he was resting his chin on.

"Two more little things, Naruto," Tsunade added in a tone that was suddenly much more gentle. He straightened up in surprise. "Tomorrow we are holding a memorial service for those who died in the attack on the other village. You can go to it, if you want to."

"Oh," he said, feeling cold suddenly.

"Second, I wanted to let you know that I was able to check in with Gai's group," she continued, "They didn't know anything was going on. It seems your older self is still with them, alive and well."

Most citizens of that ill-fated farming community had left to aid Konoha with the reconstruction, leaving only a handful to tend to crops. Because of that, the memorial for the twenty civilians killed was held in Konoha, so that their friends and family could attend. The only people who were left to mourn were in Konoha.

Very few shinobi or citizens of the Hidden Leaf itself attended, but among the ones who did were Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi—as well as the ANBU agents Boar, Raven, and Tiger, who went as guards.

The bodies were not to be interred at Konoha. By consensus of the remaining villagers, they would be taken back and privately buried in the local graveyard. They had every intention of returning to their homes and crops, even after what had happened, and they wanted their friends and neighbors to return home as well.

Naruto put Shinji's shoes in front of his photograph on the long table full of photographs, a lineup of people that had once called him a hero. He wondered if other villagers were watching him. He wondered if they knew. The guilt was like a cold, hard stone in his chest.

The Allied Shinobi Force had decreed he would be sent to the Land of Wind and left under the protection of the Kazekage for an undetermined amount of time. There he would be hidden, there he would be safe. That's what they said... but that wasn't exactly the kind of assurance he cared about. That wasn't what he wanted at all.

I'll fix it, I promise, he vowed as he stood in front of the photographs. I'll make sure you never have to die because of me.

There were only two things he wanted: first, he wanted everyone to stop hiding things from him. The only way he was going to be able redo anything the right way was to know the truth. Second, he wanted to find Yakushi Kabuto and make him send him back to his own time.

At the moment though, he only had a few vague plans. Older-Naruto was the first mystery he wanted to figure out. If his older self was still around, what did that mean? And why was he still taking it easy on a nice cruise when Akatsuki was after both of them?

With any luck, the Kazekage would be less tight-lipped and he'd be able to put together a few more clues while staying with them.

Naruto moved on, returning to his friends, who watched him with a pitying expression that he really didn't like. "Are you alright?" Sakura asked softly.

"It doesn't matter compared to how they're doing, does it?" Naruto said, indicating the villagers. They stood together in black-clad clusters, drifting, stopping in front of photographs, leaning on one another. The shinobi were a little bit apart from them and definitely stuck out, even while wearing black like everyone else, but no one asked why they were there.

"I guess you're right," Sakura said with a small, sad smile.

"When are you three leaving?" Kakashi said. "I'd like to go too, but they went and gave me an important position in the Alliance for some reason."

"Early tomorrow morning, if I start resting in bed again as soon as this is over," Sai said.

"We're stuck at the hospital again tonight," Naruto grumbled. "Boooooring."

"We can play cards some more, if you like," Sai offered.

"No way. I keep losing to you."

Sakura laughed. "Your poker face is no match for his, Naruto."

"I bet not," Kakashi said. "I'm sure we can get some people to come by and keep you from getting bored, especially since you're leaving tomorrow. Since you can't go out, it would be the next best thing."

"I would like that too," Sai said.

Naruto looked at Kakashi thoughtfully. He had mostly overlooked it in the surprise at how well people in general seemed to like him these days, but there was something subtly different about his sensei from what he remembered.

Kakashi had looked out for his team from the very beginning, but he seemed... warmer, somehow. It was barely noticeable because he was still late all the time, didn't always check in with them, and had no problem dumping his students at the hospital for a few days with little contact, but his concern leaked through more frequently than it did in the past. Or maybe he just acted that way more often with him. It was hard to put into words, but there had been some kind of change in Kakashi, just like everyone else.

"Are you ready to go back?" Kakashi asked, catching his look. "Or do you need more time?" His tone was genuine, not wry.

"I'm ready, I guess," Naruto said.

Sakura linked arms with him. "Hey, I'll play cards with you guys, too. And we should get a ramen delivery to the room tonight as a treat!" She put her other arm through Sai's and dragged them both along.

"Hey! I'm not gonna run away, so you don't have to pull me, Sakura-chan."

The future had its good points, too. Naruto wished he could separate all the good things and the bad things, to keep just the parts he wanted in the future. He'd been alone for so long. Now these people made up a circle of friends bigger than he ever imagined having.

It was like reaping the benefit of someone else's work, intruding in on something that didn't belong to him, at least not yet. It was strange, how terrible and wonderful the future turned out to be.

"Oh, I get it," Sai said from Sakura's other side. "Physical contact is often used to show support and provide comfort in stressful times. We can reinforce and display our camaraderie at the same time by walking arm-in-arm."

"It's good to have you back, Sai," Sakura said.

"Your formation is a little lopsided with the short one in there, though," Kakashi said, strolling behind them lazily.

"I take back everything I thought about you being sort of nice," Naruto growled under his breath.

As Naruto feared, that last day stuck in the hospital was agonizingly boring. Sai slept during much of it, and Kakashi had vanished, probably being smart enough not to subject himself to sticking around for the boring card games and Naruto's complaints.

But near evening, he had a visitor. Naruto looked up when someone knocked then opened the door.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto cried, jumping up from his chair. He hesitated for a second, then ran to hug him.

"Look at you. I really can't believe it." Iruka rested his hand on Naruto's head, which didn't aggravate like when anyone else did that. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to come see you before now. I've been mostly stuck down in the evacuation tunnels where most of the children are, and I didn't hear about you until recently."

"What? No one told you?" Naruto said indignantly.

"The powers-that-be have their hands a bit full right now, I think. The news spread pretty quickly once the general population was in on it." Iruka smiled, but it didn't quite touch the worry in his eyes. "I heard about the Five Kage meeting. Have you got supplies for tomorrow?"

"I left everything in the past, so I'll have to get a whole new set of equipment before we leave," Naruto confessed. "I even left behind the hitai-ate you gave me. I'm sorry. I've taken it with me everywhere, ever since I first got it. I don't feel right without it." He touched his forehead gloomily.

Even before he finished speaking, Iruka was untying the hitai-ate from his head.

"I doubt it will mean as much to you this time," he said, holding it out faceplate-side up. "But consider it a good-luck charm for your journey."

Naruto took it, a slow grin forming on his face. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

He looked at the Konoha symbol stamped into the headband for a moment and was struck with sudden inspiration. It was possible he'd get the same roundabout answers he got from everyone else, but it would be worth a try. Iruka was the only person he had met so far that didn't seem any different toward him at all.

"How strong am I in this time, Iruka-sensei?" he asked, not looking up from the headband. "No one will tell me... so I'm afraid something happened to make me even weaker than I am now, or something," he surprised himself by admitting the silly fear out loud.

Iruka put his hands on Naruto's shoulders and bent to speak directly to his face. "You are already one of the strongest shinobi I have ever seen. You have never stopped growing stronger, and I don't think you ever will."

"Then why..."

"It's going to take a lot of hard work to get to where you are now, but I know you're up to the task," Iruka said firmly. "In some ways, it doesn't matter. You can't afford to get complacent. You just have to keep going forward and giving it all you can."

"Am I stronger than Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked conspiratorially.

"He said so himself." Iruka nodded.

"He did?" Naruto said gleefully. "No way!"

"Don't get complacent, I said." Iruka tapped the metal plate on the headband in Naruto's hand. "I can't even imagine the heights that you will reach someday. But as long as you aren't there yet, you still have a very long way to go. Measuring yourself against other people can be useful, but in the long run it's all about how much you can break your own limits."

"Alright." Naruto clenched the hitai-ate in his hand with a determined smirk. "Then from now on, I'll surpass myself."